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It's that time of year again. This year, instead of letting hectic shopping and social schedules take over your holidays, make some hot cocoa, cuddle up in a comfortable place, and take charge of how you want to spend this special time.
Make your own Christmas tree ornaments. For an old standby, form a cross with Popsicle® sticks and use different colored and differently textured yarns to wrap around the cross in a diamond shape. If that's a little too simple for you, find or design your own small cross-stitch or needlepoint patterns. You might want to simply make a circle or square bearing each family member's name or hobby. Little pillows, especially announcing weddings or births, are especially nice. Stringing popcorn and/or cranberries while listening to Christmas music or telling stories is another way to relax and bring family unity to your holiday.
Rather than a complicated gingerbread house, opt to make a cupcake Christmas tree for your centerpiece. Begin with your one green-frosted cupcake at the top and pyramid down to a bottom row of five green-frosted cupcakes. The "tree trunk" will be a chocolate-frosted cupcake centered beneath the last row. Family members can then have fun decorating the "tree" with sprinkles, ornament-shaped cookies, chocolate candies, licorice "garlands," and other treats. You may even choose to put a few tiny gifts beneath the tree to add to its authenticity.
Make your own holiday sweatshirts. Some fabric paint and sponges will help you make snowmen, Santas, angels and trees to adorn your shirt. Appliques, ribbons, and buttons also contribute to make your shirt unique. Be creative and have fun. You might even decide to have a sweatshirt painting party for yourself or for your children or for your children and their friends. Whether you decide to make the shirts as gifts or to wear them yourself, they will be something that you can take pride in and fondly reflect upon the fun you had making them.
Have a "treat-swapping" party. Plan for each party attendee to bring his/her favorite cookies or treats. Each person will bring as many batches as there are members attending; i.e., if five friends will be attending the party, each friend will bring five batches of cookies or treats. Then each person will be able to fill his/her cookie tine with a batch of each treat. Everyone then has five different types of goodies to take home to his/her family. This is a wonderful way to combine socializing with cutting down on baking time and costs to give you more time to do the things you want to do this holiday season.
Get a group together and do some old-fashioned caroling. If you're not comfortable enough to go caroling in your neighborhood, go to some nursing homes. You'd bring cheer to some people who may not have a lot of holiday cheer in their lives, and you and your friends would experience the warmth and joy that only doing something for someone else can bring.
Another surefire heart-warmer is to choose a needy child from an "Angel Tree" or Santa Pal Program and buy gifts for a child who might not otherwise have Christmas gifts. This is a wonderful project for offices or to help your children learn to appreciate the fact that others are not as fortunate as they are.
Gather the family around on Christmas Eve, turn off all the lights with the exception of candles and the Christmas tree lights and read either The Christmas Story from the Bible (Luke 13) or "'Twas The Night Before Christmas," or both. Begin a holiday tradition that your family will treasure for generations.
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